In Forward with Patton, John Nelson Rickard presents a complete, annotated edition of Colonel Allen's World War II diary for 1944-1945. The entries reflect Allen's private thoughts on his experiences, provide insight into the employment of the Third Army staff, and survey the strengths and weaknesses of individual staff members. They also provide an invaluable and rare perspective of Patton, with whom Allen worked closely while gathering intelligence, and whom he deeply admired. At times objective and at others intensely personal, Forward with Patton offers a distinctive eyewitness account of one of the US military's most important armies by one of its most colorful soldiers.
John Nelson Rickard works in the Professional Military Education section of the Canadian Army Command and Staff College in Kingston, Ontario. He is the author of Advance and Destroy: Patton as Commander in the Bulge, winner of the US Army Historical Foundation Distinguished Writing Award (Operational/Battle History) in 2011.